Admiring

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Last Thursday, I ventured north to Bellingham, Washington for my long anticipated class with Shiva Rea. I had never driven that far on my own before (about five hours), and the writer in me created all kinds of awful scenarios in which I did not return in one piece (the price for creativity!).  I prepared for many eventualities, every last duck in a row, and left very dark (seriously Spring, no need to be so shy) and early.  Thankfully, the drive went off without a hitch, a succession of NPR news stories, jazz, and rock and roll.

When I exited the highway hours later, my stiff legs itching for a stretch (yoga!), I had the first of many indications that none of my visions of doom would come to fruition.  The sun started to peek through the clouds and a Bald Eagle swooped over my car.  Talk about a warm welcome!

I arrived at the class after a picture perfect afternoon (more on that tomorrow), a warm, light-filled room, with equally warm and friendly strangers of all stripes.  Then Shiva arrived and the magic began.  With the beat of a drum, the raven spirit invocation (even more auspicious, considering my deep love of crows and ravens), curious, mischievous, dancing and spreading his wings, inviting us all to fly.  This was followed by a truly amazing, heart liberating kirtan with Dave Stringer (like this).  I sang at the top of my voice, every cell pulsing, full of joy, and ready for practice.  The sadhana was kick-my-ass challenging with moments of silliness too (Shiva is funny!), everything I hoped for, infused with grooves from Dave and his cohort, and a final round of chanting to bring the magical practice to a close.

It’s pretty amazing when someone you’ve admired for a long time lives up to your expectations, live and in person, and a bit of a relief, too.  I’ve been practicing with Shiva for the past six years, her work, and ours together, inspiring me more than I ever could have imagined.  So when it came came time to thank her, for everything, that in the flesh, no going back, she’s standing right in front of me moment, rather than take my hand extended in gratitude, she embraced me, a hug between “old” friends.  A perfect day, a perfect sadhana, made all the more sweet.  Namaste.

p.s. I hope to get a picture with Shiva next time!

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I realize that this came out a few years ago, but, as I have said before, I’m not terribly good at being of the moment, so there you go.  Besides, good funny is timeless.  “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”  In any case, if you like me and my sense of humor, watch this.  Gaffigan is clean (I might like to drop an f-bomb from time to time, but I’m not crazy about hearing it), subtle, likes to talk about food, and offers spot-on commentary in the third person.  “He’s weird.”  “Is that a blouse?”  “Watch it fella!”  The hubster and I nearly wet ourselves with laughter.  That doesn’t happen nearly often enough!

It feels pretty amazing to see a smile like that, and even more so when I know that it is meant for me.  The hubster and I enter our third decade together today, and I truly could not imagine a better partner.  He makes me laugh, smile, think, and count my myriad blessings.  He loves my failings more than I do, all the while inspiring me to believe, do, and be all that I can.

Thank you, Buddy.  Here’s to the decade to come!

“We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood — it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, ‘Too late.'”

It is Martin Luther King Day, and those are his words.  Words of a wise man, who is so often in my heart and mind, inspiring me, guiding me, providing the gentle voice of encouragement and strength.  And so it is today, a brand new day.  Each one is, yet sometimes I forget how marvelous that simple fact is.  Yesterday is exactly that.  I am alive today.  Right now.  Now is the time for abandoning the insane repetition of the old ways, to shed all that doesn’t serve me, to rattle the cages, to sing at the top of my voice, to dance, love, create, and move forward.

See the light, and be it, too.  Won’t you?

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Embroider

Music, perspective, architecture, etc.  Embroider time, embroider space.

Joseph Joubert

I don’t normally add my own thoughts to the quotations, but this idea struck me so deeply that I felt compelled to put it down on paper (albeit figuratively).  Perhaps it is my profound love for music and architecture.  I am constantly inspired by the pleasing and sometimes discordant lines of objects, trees, and buildings, equally so by the sounds associated with them.  It need not be composed, either.  I love hearing the echo of footsteps in a long corridor, the sound of laughter, birdsong, or a whisper in a revered space.  I love that years later they resonate with me, sometimes a mere spark of a note, or a glimpse brings me to that spot embroidered on my heart so long ago.  The stitches may have faded and frayed beyond recognition, but something of it remains: one of the purest forms of pleasure.

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